Saturday, February 6, 2010

Recently I referred to a book I'm reading by Ishmael Reed which is one of those 'academic' novels that pokes satirical fun at those days in the 80s & 90s when political correctness was the orthodoxy of the day, and multiculturalism was more sloganistic than genuinely real (see Ismael Reed's JAPANESE SPRING). Up until this read I had never come across Reed till I read his op ed in today's New York Times. In it he pens a hard-edged critique of PRECIOUS, which of course, is one of the Academy's nominated ten best pictures for this year. Still haven't seen it myself but will be screening it soon. To read the critique see "Fade to White" at:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/opinion/05reed.html

For a counter-view read the interview with the novelist's (PUSH) author Sapphire in The Wall Street Journal: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/01/06/novelist-sapphire-on-precious-and-the-evolution-of-her-book-push/tab/article/

Saturday, December 26, 2009

A New Eden, Both Cosmic and CinematicBy MANHOLA DARGISPublished December 18, 2009http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/movies/18avatar.htmlA New York Times Film Critic's Thoughtful Commentary on "Avatar"

SARAH POLLEY (Toronto) Actress - stage/screen (The Sweet Hereafter & The Adventures of Baron Munchausen). Director: Away From Her, 2006(Featuring brilliant performance by Julie Christie; based on Alice Munro, Canadian short story: The Bear Came Over the Mountain).

PATRICIA ROZEMA (Sarnia, Ontario)

Mansfield Park, 1999; I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, 1987.

MICHAEL SNOW - experimental artist/filmmaker (Toronto)

Wavelength, 1966; Rameau's Nephew by Diderot, 1974; WYLNT (Wavelength for those who Don't have the time) 2003.

Born February 28, 1956, is a Canadian screenwriter and director of both features and short films from Winnipeg, Manitoba. His most distinctive quality is his fondness for recreating the look and style of silent or early sound era films.

While Maddin strives to recreate the styles and moods of early film melodramas, Weimar Republic German silent films, and 1920s Soviet agit-prop, his own distinct personal style lies in his use of clichés, psychosexual situations, bizarre stories and humor. It is this self-conscious and surreal merging of early film-making techniques with a post-modern sensibility that give Maddin's films their distinct style.

His film education came not with any formal training at a trade school, but with endless weekends of watching films with close friends John Paizs and Steve Snyder. Soon realizing that Paizs was making films and Snyder was teaching production at the University of Manitoba, Maddin eventually decided that he needed to put his own knowledge to work and step behind the camera.

Maddin's first film was the 1986 short The Dead Father. His first feature film was Tales from the Gimli Hospital. His latest work Brand Upon the Brain was made in collaboration with The Film Company.

In 2007, Maddin became the first artist-curator of the UCLA Film Archives. In this position, he performs the programming for their new "Curated by..." series.[1]

As of fall 2007, Maddin is teaching film at the University of Manitoba. Also in 2007, Maddin's documentary My Winnipeg won the Best Canadian Feature award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Ruth 1:16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

Ruth 1:17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

(Self-evident re-iteration of what it takes to survive in a world where we have all wandered away from home.)

2. The Biography of a Grizzly

Ernest Thompson Seton

By A Customer (Amazon.com)

I acquired this book at age 9-10. Now, at age 75, I really miss it (it was "borrowed" 20-30 yrs ago). My nostalgic memory is of a haunting,memorable, and very literate tale of an excellent bear-person, who resolutely faces what life offers; infancy & vulnerability; growth & education, maturity & strength, suffering fools and agressors, and finally, decline and mortality. Seton's magic is to dissolve completely the artificial barrier between nature's creatures and ourselves.

(A paradigm novel that deeply influenced my own ideas about the struggle to survive and at the same time find yourself in the process . . . Clay Lowe)